10 x 50mm dominos good for breadboard

[BigChuck13]

My friend just got a DM 500 Q Set and wants me to use it for my breadboard. The table is
48” wide and 1 3/8” thick and is from a 130 year old white oak bay from a distillery. The bread board will be about 2-3” wide. My concern is that the 10mm x 50mm dowel isn’t going to be big enough. If it was I would have to put a lot of dominos in and then that would weaken the whole thing. Please let me know if its ok to use these 2 inch dowels or not.

Thanksn

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Aside from matching the size for the Dominos/Tenons for the expected work load, you have to do a bit of engineering here because only the center Domino/Tenon can be glued on both sides. These smaller Dominos/tenons have to be pinned from the bottom with elongated holes in the Dominos on one side of the joint and the slot has to be the wider, "sloppy" fit to allow for wood movement. Personally, I'd be using 14mm Dominos for this task as they are stouter and more appropriate for that thicker material and much easier to pin from below without degrading the lateral strength of the Domino/tenon itself.

 

[Michael Kellough]

“ My friend just got a DM 500 Q Set and wants me to use it for my breadboard.”

I’m not your friend but I want you to use a use a sliding dovetail joint with that rare material.

 

[JimD]

I like a 12mm tenon for 1 3/8 material.  12mm is just less than 1/2 inch so it is about 1/3 of the material thickness.

I don't see why you couldn't do this.  I would probably put 3 or 4 near the center, glued, and then at least a couple unglued out near each end.  Unless you want to do it for appearance, I would not pin any of them.  I've seen tests where it actually weakened the joint.  The other tenons should go in oversized mortises to allow for wood movement (doesn't need to be both sides).

Only going an inch into both pieces worries me more than the 10mm thickness.  But that is what the 500 will do.  I got the XL. 

 

[ChuckM]

"The bread board will be about 2-3” wide."

The exact width matters here, if you plan to use the 50mm dominoes. If it's 2" wide, the 50mm dominoes will have 1" into the breadboard, and if you put enough dominoes, that's ok to me.

For a width of 3", I'd be a bit worried.

If you can't justify getting an XL for just this one-time job, or have no enough future projects to use the big joiner, there is still a way out.

First, cut all the mortises with the DF500 as deep as the  machine allows. Then deepen those mortises on both the breadboard (3" wide) and table (say to 2" or so) by boring with a drill bit the same diameter as your domino cutter. To ensure the boring is perpendicular as your mortises, do not drill freehand, but make a jig using guide bushing clamped to the work. Buy or borrow the longer dominoes intended for the XL, and cut them to length, or make your own. 

I have used this method with an adjustable jig twice before when I needed deeper mortises that the DF500 can't produce. Since such needs rarely arise (far less than 1% of all the domino joinery I have done), the shop-made solution works well for me.

If you know someone who has an XL, borrowing it for the one-time job is another solution.

 

[gvega9889@gmail.com]

I agree that using the 700xl would be the be the best but if you can't  borrow one you might be able to get by using the normal horizontal spacing for tenons but use two tenons equally spaced vertically across the board thickness rather than one larger  tenon.